Chance Meeting
by Hailie Jade
Summary: Abby left the ER ten years ago, before Carter returned from Africa, now they meet again


Author: Hailie  
  
Title: Chance Meeting  
  
Summary: Abby left the ER ten years ago, before Carter returned from Africa now they meet again. It can be read as a continuation of my story 'love and hate,' but it's not absolutely necessary to have read that first.  
  
~~  
  
The toy store was one of the biggest ones in Chicago and she regretted not having picked a smaller one.  
  
At the moment she stood alone looking at books. She needed to find a birthday gift for her seven-year-old nephew, and she had no idea what to get.  
  
She pulled a book out, causing the stack to tumble down, making a loud noise as books spread out across the floor.  
  
She began picking them up when another hand offered some help. She looked up to thank the helpful stranger and was met instead by his face.  
  
"Carter," she said surprised.  
  
"Abby," he replied with a tight, polite smile.  
  
She placed a similar smile upon her face as the air around them became uncomfortable.  
  
"So, um, how are you?" she asked trying to convey some sort of friendliness, even if there wasn't much there.  
  
"I'm doing good," he replied as he put the last of the fallen books back upon the shelf.  
  
"Still at County?" she inquired.  
  
"Yeah," he said nodding. "How are you?"  
  
She smiled, "good."  
  
"Honestly?"  
  
"I'm very happy Carter," she replied somewhat mockingly.  
  
"I'm glad."  
  
"Are you?"  
  
"Abby."  
  
"It's been ten years Carter, I hope you're happy too."  
  
"I am."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Married?" she asked.  
  
"Divorced," he answered.  
  
"Sorry," she said sincerely.  
  
He shrugged.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"What about you?" he asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Are you married?"  
  
Before she could answer they were interrupted by a small voice yelling "mommy."  
  
A little girl ran towards them. She had big brown eyes and curly dirty- blonde hair.  
  
She slowed her pace as she came closer to them and Abby noticed that she held something in her hands.  
  
"Yes Livy?" Abby asked as the girl reached them.  
  
"Mommy," she said again excitedly as her eyes danced between Abby and Carter. Her eyes stopped dancing, and focused on Abby as she said, "Daddy said I could get this!" and she help up the box that she held in her hands.  
  
It was a Barbie doll, Abby noticed, a doctor. That brought a smile to Abby's face. "Did he really?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, cause she's like you!" Livy said excitedly.  
  
"You're a doctor?" he inquired.  
  
"Abby nodded, while Livy answered, "Yeah daddy is too!"  
  
"Carter, this is my daughter Olivia," she introduced. "Livy this is Doctor Carter, I used to work with him when I lived in Chicago." The little girl didn't seem too interested, as she was preoccupied with her toy.  
  
He nodded his head and looked as if he was at a loss for words.  
  
"What brought you back to Chicago?" he asked after a period of silence.  
  
"We came to visit Nick, my husband's, family," she explained.  
  
"You're just visiting?"  
  
"Yeah we live. . ."  
  
"That's okay," he cut her off, " I rather not know."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"You might want to go see Susan though."  
  
"Yeah, I miss her," she replied.  
  
"Mommy," Olivia said pulling on her arm forcing her to look down. Olivia stretched her arms up in hopes of being picked up.  
  
Abby complied and lifted the child into her arms.  
  
"How old are you?" Carter asked Olivia enthusiastically.  
  
"Three," she said as her eyes lit up and she held up three fingers.  
  
"As you can tell she's not very shy," Abby explained.  
  
"Abby," a voice said from behind them.  
  
As Carter turned he observed a blonde haired, tall man pushing a blue and gray stroller.  
  
"Hey Nick," she said happiness filling her voice, "this is John Carter."  
  
"I'm Abby's husband, Nick Miller," he said shaking Carter's hand.  
  
The two men shook hands uncomfortably.  
  
"Abby's told me about you," Nick said.  
  
Crying began from the child in the stroller saving Carter from having to make a response.  
  
Nick picked the child up since Abby still held Olivia in her arms.  
  
"Nicky don't cry," Olivia said, causing the adults to laugh.  
  
"Nicky," Carter said.  
  
"Dominick," Nick said proudly. "Do you have any kids Doctor Carter?" Nick added as Nicky's cries calmed down.  
  
"Yes, a son," Carter answered uncomfortably.  
  
"John Truman?" Abby asked smiling slightly.  
  
"Yeah," he replied looking around the store for nothing particular.  
  
"Why don't you go see if Katie's ready," Abby suggested to Nick.  
  
"Yeah okay," Nick replied and was about to walk away when Nicky began crying loudly again.  
  
Abby put Olivia down with great complaints from the girl, and took the baby from Nick's arms.  
  
"Mommy," Olivia whined again.  
  
"Livy can you go help your daddy find your sister please?"  
  
Nick reached out to take her hand but she said, "No daddy, I want up!"  
  
"Alright Liv," he said picking her up. "Meet you back here?" he asked looking at Abby.  
  
Abby nodded her head and said, "ask Katie to pick something out for Tyler."  
  
"Okay. It was nice meeting you," he said to Carter.  
  
"Yeah, you too," Carter replied politely.  
  
"How old is Katie?" Carter asked as Nick and Livy disappeared down an isle.  
  
"Nine," Abby replied.  
  
His eyes got wide and he repeated, "Nine!"  
  
She looked at him confused, as he got mad.  
  
"You left ten years ago, that means. ."  
  
"She's not yours Carter," Abby said simply.  
  
"Like hell she's not," he yelled.  
  
"Carter."  
  
"I can't believe you'd do that!"  
  
"Carter, she's not your daughter."  
  
"Abby."  
  
"Because she's not my daughter. She's Nick's from his first marriage," Abby explained.  
  
"Oh," Carter said at a loss for words.  
  
"I wouldn't have done that to you," Abby said, "no matter how much I hated you."  
  
"I know. I'm sorry," he offered.  
  
"Are you getting something for your son?" Abby asked when he failed to say anything else.  
  
"Yeah, I wanted to get John a bike for my house," Carter answered.  
  
"How old is he?"  
  
"Five."  
  
"Has he started Kindergarten?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, "What about Olivia? Is she in preschool? Or daycare?"  
  
"No," she replied, "I've stayed home with her and Nicky since he was born," she then laid a peaceful Nicky down in his stroller.  
  
"That must be nice."  
  
"It is," she agreed, "but I'll probably go back to work soon." She said with a smile.  
  
"You're a doctor," he said almost proudly.  
  
"Yeah, I'm a doctor," she said happily.  
  
"Good for you," he encouraged.  
  
"I guess I should thank you for that."  
  
"Me?" he said startled.  
  
"If you hadn't left, then I don't think I would have done it."  
  
"I'm sure you would have."  
  
"I liked routine."  
  
"And now?" he asked.  
  
"I'm finally happy."  
  
"I'm glad."  
  
"Stop saying that."  
  
"But I do mean it."  
  
Her eyes glazed lightly with tears as she asked, "When did you finally come back?"  
  
"About a month after you left," he replied, his voice sounding far away.  
  
She nodded her head ever so slightly.  
  
"What would have happened if I had come before you left?" he asked, somewhat regretting it as he said it.  
  
She looked at him, yet past him. Her eyes focused far away on the day he left. Then the day she left. It was a low point in her life, but maybe, "fate," she whispered.  
  
That startled and confused him, "what?" he asked.  
  
"For the longest time I thought fate brought us together. Fate made me catch you and tell Doctor Green. Fate led you to the exact time and place of the meeting I was at. Fate brought us together in the monkey pox crisis." She paused checking his face, his eyes, for reaction.  
  
"Fate," he whispered testing the word.  
  
"But I was wrong. I don't think fate brought us together."  
  
Both their eyes filled involuntarily with tears.  
  
"Fate did everything it could to tear us apart," he finished for her.  
  
"And it won," she added.  
  
"But I did love you," he whispered knowing that to say more would be wrong.  
  
"I loved you too," she had the incredible need to tell him.  
  
"You were right," he said.  
  
"About what?" she asked looking at him quizzically.  
  
"I did want to hurt you," his voice broke slightly.  
  
She nodded not knowing what to say.  
  
"I wanted you to know how much it hurt when you went after Eric.  
  
"I had to," she said quietly.  
  
"I know," he agreed, "but I was hurting and I needed someone to blame, and I blamed you."  
  
"I would've blamed me too," she admitted.  
  
"But it wasn't fair."  
  
"Neither is life," she quickly added.  
  
"Why are you so okay with everything?"  
  
"Because none of this matters anymore," she answered.  
  
"Did it ever matter?" he asked almost angrily.  
  
She chose not to answer; instead she looked away.  
  
"Abby," he said, grabbing her wrist touching her for the first time in years.  
  
As he caught her eyes he noticed the tears in them, and he dropped the hold he had on her wrist.  
  
"Well you did accomplish your goal Carter," she spat. "You hurt me so much, are you happy now that you know?"  
  
"Abby, I'm"  
  
"No, Carter you are not allowed to be sorry," she said trying to keep herself composed.  
  
He swallowed hard and forced tears not to spill from his eyes.  
  
"Do you know how many different versions I wrote of that stupid letter I left for you?"  
  
He didn't move, he didn't speak, he just stood there.  
  
"I wanted to use unfettered, I wanted to tell you I hated you, I wanted to hurt you as much as you hurt me," she informed him.  
  
"Abs,"  
  
"But I didn't Carter!" she kept going not allowing him to speak. "I couldn't." A naked truth shinned in her eyes that he had never witnessed before.  
  
"Abby there's nothing I can say except that I'm sorry, and I know it's too little too late, but I really am." I told her.  
  
"For what exactly? For making me trust you then leaving? For not coming back? For breaking up with me in a fucking letter? What are you sorry for?"  
  
"For all that. For hurting you, for making you hate me."  
  
"Thank you," she said quietly. "I needed to hear you say that."  
  
He nodded.  
  
"I'm sorry too," she admitted. "I didn't make a choice between you and Eric, Carter. I was scared that the next time I heard about him it would be from a policeman saying he was dead."  
  
"I know," he said.  
  
"I didn't think leaving for the night would cause you to leave me."  
  
"Did you really never believe that we would last forever?" he asked unsure if he had crossed a line that he shouldn't have.  
  
"No," she said shaking her head.  
  
He looked defeated.  
  
"I lied about that," she continued. "I wanted you to think that I believed that."  
  
"But you didn't?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Mom," a voice said startling her.  
  
"Katie," Abby said as she turned around.  
  
"We're going to check out and Dad wanted to know if you had anything else." Katie said. She was tall and blonde like her father, and she had startlingly deep blue eyes.  
  
"No, but did you pick out a birthday present for your cousin?" Abby asked.  
  
"Yeah," Katie replied.  
  
"Okay, tell your daddy I'll be there in a few minutes."  
  
"Okay," Katie said eyeing Carter before she walked away.  
  
"She calls you mom," Carter said after Katie left.  
  
"Yeah," she never knew her real mom, and she was only four when Nick and I got married," she explained. "She does call me Abby sometimes too," she shrugged.  
  
"Well you better go," he said.  
  
"You too," Abby agreed.  
  
"Goodbye," Carter said.  
  
"We finally get a goodbye," Abby said, eyes glazed and smiling.  
  
Trying to prevent it would have been useless; the need to embrace the other was to great, and they found themselves in each other's arms.  
  
"So this is it," he said as they both pulled away.  
  
"Yeah," she said with a smile.  
  
"You were the best friend I ever had Abs."  
  
"So were you Carter.  
  
With that she walked away pushing her son's stroller in search of her family.  
  
And he turned in search of a bike for his son.  
  
They were both happy.  
  
Still they both wondered for the moment what life could have been like.  
  
Just for the moment. 


End file.
